Getting Started

Investing in cryptocurrency is easy using Coinbase. Coinbase provides a way to purchase bitcoin, litecoin, and ethereum. Payment methods include: credit/debit card, and bank account. If you buy or sell $100 USD or more (or 100 USD equivalent of your domestic currency) within 180 days of opening your account, you will receive a 10 USD (or 10 USD equivalent of your domestic currency) bonus when the order completes.

Purchasing Altcoins

After you have purchased BTC and/or ETH, you can then transfer any amount you’d like to an exchange site like Binance where you can purchase altcoins using ETH/BTC exchange rate. Click here to get started purchasing altcoins using Binance.

To send ETH/BTC from Coinbase to Binance is simple. Once logged into Binance, select the tab Funds Deposit/Withdrawls. Select the coin you wish to deposit. For example, if you would like to deposit BTC, select BTC and deposit. You will then see a receiving address which you can then send to from Coinbase. Copy this receiving address. Within Coinbase, select your account and wallet(in this example BTC wallet); there you can send any amount to the copied receiving address. Be sure to only send the same coin as the coin selected from the receiving address in Binance.

Wallet

Digital currencies are stored in wallets which are sets of encryption keys. Encryption keys include both a public and private key. The public key allows you to send and receive digital currency. The private key secures and stores the digital currency. Never share your private key with anyone. The public ledger keeps record of all transactions related to the key set. If you only store your digital currency on an exchange, like Coinbase or Binance, they hold the key set. You are dependent on the exchange keeping your digital currency safe. Small amounts of digital currency that is being used to actively trade can be kept on an exchange site, but large amounts are recommended to store in a hardware wallet.

A hardware wallet is a physical device that keeps the encrypted keys stored safely. In the event that the device is lost or stolen, your digital currency can be restored using the seed(password).

Convert

Changelly is an instant crypto-crypto exchange providing decent exchange rates. You can convert fiat or alternative cryptocurrencies into another cryptocurrency. This is useful if you wish to obtain cryptocurrency that isn’t offered on an exchange site. If interested in this type of service, you can read more about this conversion platform here.

Tax Tool

CryptoTrader.Tax is a new tool that helps you calculate trading gains and prepare your crypto taxes. It currently lets you import all trading history from multiple exchanges, declare your crypto income, and generate detailed reports of your capital gains/losses for easy tax reporting.